Sixth Kathisma

Psalm 37

O Lord, in thy displeasure rebuke me not, neither in thy wrath chastise me: for thine arrows have stuck fast in me, and thy hand hath lain upon me. There is no wholeness in my bones in the face of thy wrath; there is no peace in my bones by reason of my sins. For my transgressions have gone over my head, and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me. My wounds stink and are corrupt by reason of my foolishness. I grew weary and was bowed down even to the end; all the day long I went about grieving: for my loins are filled with deceptions; and there is no wholeness in my flesh. I was oppressed and humbled exceedingly; I roared from the groaning of my heart. O Lord, before thee is all my desire, and my groaning is not hidden from thee. My heart is troubled, my strength hath forsaken me, and the light of mine eyes itself is not with me. My friends and my neighbors have come nigh and have stood against me: and those near me stood afar off, and those that sought my soul did violence; and those that sought evil for me spake vain things and meditated deceit all the day. But I, as a deaf man, heard not, and as a man not opening his mouth: and was like a man that heareth not, and who in his mouth hath no reproofs. For on thee, O Lord, have I hoped; thou shalt hearken, O Lord my God. For I said, let mine enemies never rejoice over me: for when my feet were moved they spake greatly against me. For I am prepared for scourges, and mine agony is continually before me. For I will declare my transgression, and I will care for my sin. But mine enemies live, and are become mightier than I, and those that hate me wrongfully are multiplied: those that reward me evil for good slandered me because I pursued goodness. Forsake me not, O Lord my God; turn not away from me. Attend to my help, O Lord of my salvation.

Psalm 38

I said: I shall pay heed to my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue: I set a watch upon my mouth when the sinner stood against me. I was dumb and humbled myself, and I kept silent from good words, and my grief was renewed. My heart grew hot within me, and in my meditation shall a fire be kindled: I spake with my tongue, Make known to me, O Lord, mine end, and what is the number of my days, that I may know what I lack. Behold, as handspans hast thou made my days, and my substance is as nothing before thee: yea, all things are vanity, even every man living. Surely man walketh as an image, yea, in vain is he disquieted: he storeth up treasure, and knoweth not for whom he gathereth it. And now what is mine expectation? is it not God? yea, my substance is from thee. From all my transgressions deliver me: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool. I was dumb, and did not open my mouth, for thou hast done it. Remove from me thy scourges: from the strength in thy hands have I fainted. With reproofs for transgressions hast thou chastened man; as a spider’s web hast thou made his soul pine away: yea, every man in vain is disquieted. Hearken unto my prayer and my supplications, O Lord, attend to my tears; keep not silent, for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as were my fathers. Refresh me, that I may rest before I depart and am no more.

Psalm 39

I waited patiently upon the Lord, and He hearkened unto me, and heard my prayer. And He led me up out of the pit of misery, and out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and guided my steps: and He put into my mouth a new song, hymns to our God. Many shall see and shall fear, and shall hope on the Lord. Blessed is the man whose trust is in the name of the Lord, and who looketh not upon vanities and false frenzies. Thou hast increased thy wonders, O Lord my God, and in thy thoughts is none who may be likened to thee; I declared and I spake, They are increased beyond number. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come (in the beginning of the book it is written of me): to do thy will, O my God, I desired, and thy law in the midst of my bosom. I announced thy righteousness in a great church; behold, I will not restrain my lips: O Lord, thou hast known. Thy righteousness I did not hide in my heart, thy truth and thy salvation I declared; nor did I hide thy mercy and thy truth from a great council. But thou, O Lord, withhold not thy compassion from me: thy mercy and thy truth succor me continually. Therefore evils without number have encompassed me; my transgressions have overtaken me, and I could not see: they are multiplied more than the hairs on my head, and my heart hath forsaken me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, attend to mine aid. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek my soul, to take it: let them be turned back and ashamed who wish me harm. Let them quickly receive their shame who say to me, Well! Well! Let them rejoice and be glad in thee, all those who seek thee, O Lord, and let all those that love thy salvation continually say, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy; the Lord shall take care of me: my Helper and Deliverer art thou. O my God, do not tarry.

Psalm 40

Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the poor and the needy; in the evil day shall the Lord deliver him: the Lord keep him, and give him life, and bless him upon the earth, and deliver him not into the hands of his enemy. The Lord help him upon his bed of pain: all his disability hast thou overturned in his illness. And I said, O Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. Mine ene mies have spoken evils against me: When shall he die and his name perish? And he came in to see; his heart spake vanity, he gathered iniquity to himself; he went out, and spake in like manner. All mine enemies whispered evils against me, they devised evils against me. A lawless word did they set up for me: Shall he that sleepeth not rise again? For the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he that ate my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up, and I shall requite them. By this I know that thou hast delighted in me, for mine enemy shall not rejoice over me. But thou shalt uphold me because of mine innocence, and thou hast established me before thee forever. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from ages and to ages. So be it. So be it.

Psalm 41

As the hart desireth the fountains of water, so my soul desireth thee, O God. My soul hath thirsted after the mighty living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God? My tears have been my bread day and night, while every day it is said to me: Where is thy God? These things I remembered, and I poured out my soul in me: therefore I will go over into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even into the house of God, with the sound of rejoicing and thanksgiving, the noise of them that keep festival. Why art thou exceeding sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope on God, for I will confess him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God. Within me my soul is troubled: therefore I will remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermon, from the little hill. Deep calleth to deep at the sound of thy cataracts: all thy heights and thy waves have passed over me. In the daytime God commandeth his mercy: and by night a canticle from me, a prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God, Thou art my Helper, why hast thou forgotten me? and why do I go about grieving, while the enemy afflicteth me? When my bones are broken, mine enemies reproach me, while they say to me every day: Where is thy God? Why art thou exceeding sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope on God, for I will confess him, the salvation of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 42

Judge me, O God, and plead for my cause: from the unholy nation, from the unrighteous and deceitful man, deliver me. For thou, O God, art my strength; why hast thou forsaken me? and why do I go about grieving, while the enemy afflicteth me? Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have guided me and have brought me to thy holy mountain, and to thy tabernacles. And I will go in to the altar of God, to God who giveth joy to my youth: I will confess thee upon the harp, O God my God. Why art thou exceeding sad, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope on God, for I will confess him, the salva tion of my countenance, and my God.

Psalm 43

O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have declared unto us, the work which thou hast wrought in their days, in days of old. Thy hand utterly destroyed the nations, and thou didst plant them; thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. Not by their sword did they settle the land, nor did their arm save them: but by thy right hand, and by thine arm, and by the light of thy countenance, for thou wast well-pleased in them. Thou art thyself my King and my God, who didst command the salvation of Jacob. With thee will we gore our enemies with the horn, and in thy name will we despise them that rise against us. I will not trust in my bow, nor shall mine arm save me: thou hast saved us from them that oppress us, and thou hast put to shame them that hate us. In God will we boast all the day long, and to thy name we will give thanks forever. But now thou hast cast us off, and hast put us to shame, and thou wilt not go forth, O God, with our hosts. Thou hast turned us backwards before our enemies, and those that hate us plundered for themselves. Thou hast given us as sheep for meat, and thou hast scattered us among the nations. Thou hast sold thy people without price, and there was no profit in our exchange. Thou hast made us a reproach to our neighbors, scorn and humiliation to them that are round about us. Thou hast made us a proverb among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All the day long my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me, from the voice of him who reproacheth and slandereth me, from the face of the enemy and the persecutor. All these things have come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee, nor have we done unrighteously in thy covenant, nor has our heart turned back away: and thou hast not turned our steps aside from thy way. For thou hast humbled us in the place of our oppression, and the shadow of death hath covered us. If we have forgot ten the name of our God, or if we have spread our hands to a strange God, shall not God search out these things? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Rise up, why dost thou sleep, O Lord? Arise, and cast us not off till the end. Why dost thou turn away thy face? why hast thou forgotten our poverty and affliction? For our souls are humbled down to the dust; our belly hath cleaved to the earth. Arise, O Lord, help us and redeem us for thy name’s sake.

Psalm 44

My heart let out a good word; I speak my works to the king: my tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe. Thou art in comeliness more beautiful than the sons of men, grace hath been shed forth on thy lips: for this cause God hath blessed thee forever. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Mighty One, in thy comeliness and in thy beauty, and draw thy bow, and prosper, and reign, because of truth, and meekness, and righteousness: and thy right hand shall guide thee wondrously. Thine arrows are sharp, O Mighty One, in the heart of the king’s enemies (nations shall fall under thee). Thy throne, O God, is unto ages of ages: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Myrrh, and aloes, and cassia arise from thy garments, from ivory palaces, wherewith the daughters of kings have made thee glad in thine honor. On thy right hand stood the queen, in a garment wrought with gold, clothed in divers colors. Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear, and forget thy people, and the house of thy father. And the King shall desire thy beauty, for He is thy Lord, and they shall worship him, and daughters of Tyre with gifts; the rich among the people shall entreat thy countenance. All the glory of the King’s daughter is within, clothed with borders of gold and divers colors. Virgins shall be brought to the King after her, her neighbors shall be brought to thee: they shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing, they shall be brought into the temple of the King. Instead of thy fathers, sons are born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over the earth. I will remember thy name from generation to genera tion; for this cause shall peoples praise thee forever, and unto ages of ages.

Psalm 45

Our God is our refuge and strength, a Helper in afflictions that strongly beset us; for this cause we will not fear, when the earth shall be disquieted, and mountains be removed into the heart of the seas. Their waters roared and were troubled, the mountains were troubled by his strength. The currents of the river gladden the city of God: the Most High hath sanctified his tabernacle. God is in the midst of it, and it shall not be moved; He shall help it early in the morning. Nations were troubled, and kingdoms were bowed down; the Most High uttered a sound, the earth was shaken. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Protector. Come and see the works of the Lord, what wonders He hath done upon the earth, making wars to cease to the ends of the earth. He shall shat ter the bow and break the weapons, and the shield shall He burn in fire. Be still and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, and I will be exalted upon the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Protector.